Dr Bruce Ribner, from the hospital's infectious disease unit, said they had measured their recovery by an absence of the virus in blood tests, and their symptoms had improved for two to three consecutive days.

We did learn a number of things in terms of fluid and electrolyte replacement and blood clotting abnormalities which frankly our colleagues in Africa don't have the capability to detect.

We are in the process of developing several guidelines which will be disseminated to the practitioners in Africa saying 'even if you can't measure this, this is something we have found and there are things you can do to try to improve outcomes in your patients.'